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Steroid injections can be very effective in treating many inflammatory foot conditions. Many diagnoses will end with the letters -itis. That refers to inflammation of. For example, tendinitis is inflammation of the tendon. Inflammation results in pain and limiting the effective use of a structure. Calming the inflammation will reduce symptoms and allow the patient to walk in a more natural fashion. Too much inflammation may inhibit healing. It is important to understand that not reducing pain often leads to other injuries due to the patient compensating and putting excess stress on another body part. Inflammation may be reduced by icing and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines like Advil. However, often a steroid injection is most effective because the medicine is being administered directly to the area of the chief complaint. It also happens to be a medicine that works well due to it's chemical composition. A fear of steroid injections is side effects. Steroids have a long list of potential side effects. Most side effects are seen in long term use of steroids. Fortunately, in podiatry we use very mild steroids and limit the frequency of administering them to lower the risk. A steroid injection will only be administered if the reward potential is much greater than the risk potential. Common conditions where we may inject a steroid mixed with local anesthesia include tendinits, capsulitis, plantar fasciitis and gout. At East Avenue Podiatry, steroid injections are just one tool of many in treating your foot conditions. Feel free to browse the website, norwalkpodiatrist.com, for more information on the individual conditions which steroid injections may be helpful.